THAT'S A WRAP. Thank you all for your support! I loved this blog. Loved running it, loved writing it, loved coordinating contributing posts, and loved reading and responding to your emails. But truth be told, it was alot of work, I was on the road alot, daily applying the content of these posts to my own music career, and sinking in an ever-flowing, never-ending inbox of emails from you all...all while trying to write and post 2 weekly articles and update the older ones! Thank you for reading! I will never forget the day we reached 18,000 hits. I will keep this domain alive as long as I can so that you can always access the content. Much love to you all, Joy

8 Reasons Why We Love Stage-it!

Stage-it is innovation at its best – a simple, clever spin on live streaming, and an incredible way to engage your fans.

WHAT IS STAGE-IT?

It’s essentially a platform that allows you to perform concerts for your fans over the Internet. They watch from the comfort of their couch and you perform from the comfort of yours. Too simple, right? Well, that’s why it works! It took me a while to get onto the Stage-it bandwagon; but as more and more friends began to hold concerts, I finally decided to give it a try. Here are 5 reasons why you’ll love Stage-it as much as we do.

1. ANYONE CAN ATTEND

I was pretty skeptical about giving Stage-it a try. But even as someone who is on the road so much, there are so many cities I will never play in and so many fans who I’ll never have the opportunity to meet in person. The highlight of playing my Stage-it show was playing for fans who have wanted to attend a show for years but have never been close enough. Anyone can attend whether they live down the street from you or in another country.

2. IT’S EASY AND FREE

Those two things go together pretty well. You don’t need much to host a Stage-it Concert – just a little time on your hands and 30-50 minutes worth of music. As long as you have a laptop with a camera and microphone, you’re good to go. You can also buy a USB microphone to capture better sound quality. I went this route and noticed a drastic difference in quality. Im certain it made for a better experience from the audience’s perspective.

3. THEY’RE PERSONAL

The Stage-it Crew was incredibly responsive and helpful throughout the process. They began the communication by emailing and asking if they could call me to talk about doing a featured performance. Over the course of a few weeks, my contact stayed in touch with me and offered suggestions on how to setup my account and get the best return. On the day of my show, I talked with a sound tech who walked me through a sound check and gave me feedback on how the audio sounded from his end. Super helpful because I had no idea what I was doing.

4. IT’S A GATEWAY DRUG:)

Statistically, for every 100 people you invite to an event on Facebook, only 2 people will actually come (somewhere in that ballpark). People are lazy and busy and it’s becoming harder and harder to get fans (especially the ones who aren’t committed) to leave their house and make your live concert their top priority for any given night. Stage-it fixes that problem.

One of the things I noticed from my stage-it concert is that it peaked the interest of fans who have been disconnected from my music for years and fans who have never actually heard my music (only heard about it). It also excited the die-hard fans who already come out to my shows on a regular basis. Most people think, “Hey, it’s 30 minutes on a Sunday night. Hey why not!?

5. FAN INTERACTION

My favorite Stage-it feature was the chat forum. Fans asked my drummer and I questions during our set, engaged in conversations with each other, and requested songs on the spot. I initially underestimated the power of the forum, but it was the glue that held the show together. People would leave comments about specific songs, ask when our next show was in their area, and ask each other questions.

6. IT’S A CREATIVE WAY TO MAKE SOME $$$

You can either set a ticket price for your show or set a “Pay What You Want” price. Fans paid as little at 10 cents and as much as $20…with the average person giving around $7-8. Stage-it’s tipping feature also came into play as fans would donate additional money when they liked a specific song. The highest viewer ended up tipping $30. FYI: Stage-it does take a cut.

7. IT’S FLEXIBLE

Play the concert whenever you want. Midday, late night, early evening. I recommend staying away from Fridays and Saturdays since people are more likely to be out and about. Sunday evenings are peak hours b/c most people are home after 8pm. Sunday night was a perfect day for us.

8. ITS FUN!

Hands down, we had more fun with our stage-it concert than our other concerts that weekend. When you’re doing a Stage-it, pressure is low and there’s not much at stake. Its informality was the most appealing thing to me. We each played the concert in a pair of sweatpants, sat in the kitchen, and my drummer played percussion on pots and pans to keep with the theme! Viewers especially loved that and got to choose which kitchen bowls/pots we played on :)

About the author

You’ve definitely piqued MY interest about this! I’d love to do it from my studio at home, where I have everything at hand and a good video/audio system. But my broadband connection is pretty slow, unfortunately. Have you got super-fast broadband where you did your show from?

grassrootsy

Hey DC, I say go for it!

My internet speed wasn’t especially fast. They have you do a SpeedTest before your soundcheck to gauge how the concert will go. Mine was 4.48 Mbps. You can check your’s here

Thanks Joy! Mine’s a quarter of yours, on a good day! But I’ll check with Stage-It and see what they recommend. Australia’s much-vaunted fibre-optic National Broadband Network is due to come by our place within the next couple of years so by that time I expect to be able to transmit holograms! ;)

Chris Birch

I have to wonder who this service is actually aimed for. I personally have a problem with the current generation of “lazy” artists that think because they spent two years learning an instrument and wrote 10 songs they deserve a record contract and platinum album. To me, this service is just another way of cutting corners to becoming a professional musician. If I pay money for tickets to a concert, I surely don’t want to see the artists come on stage and play in sweatpants and on pots and pans. I am not trying to degrade your concert or approach, I just feel that it is a very amateur way to promote your music. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great service for the band that wants to get started or just gain some more fans, but I feel that many artists will abuse this service and stop booking venues because it’s “too much work” and their overall professional image will suffer in the end. As a fan, if the band doesn’t bother to pack up their gear and come to a venue near me, then why would I ever consider travelling to them or purchasing any of their merch? Once again, I think this is an innovative service, but I think it stops being useful when an artist or band wants to move from the amateur level to the pro level.

Jon Patton

“As a fan, if the band doesn’t bother to pack up their gear and come to a venue near me” < You've never heard a band that lived on the other side of the country from you? On a different continent? "Packing up their stuff" to get near you very well might be financially impossible.

Chris Birch

Yes, exactly. If that band is just an amateur band and does not have the finances or means to travel to a venue anywhere near me, then by all means this is a great service for them. My comment is pointing to the fact that if this band considers itself professional or a touring band, then they should have the means to get to venues across the country otherwise they will always just be a ‘local’ band with some internet concerts. I really don’t want to rock out to an awesome band in the comfort of my home, I want to go to the rock show with all the other crazies.

Once again, I’m not knocking the amateur or weekend warrior or local bands, they are great, but I’m saying that I think this service stops being very useful past that level. (Save for a private concert by a known artist to a superfan or contest winner, there are many uses, obviously.)

Jon Patton

I think this is short sighted and that you’re lumping the financial difficulty associated with touring in with being unprofessional or amateur, which is a pretty offensive way of characterizing some musicians that might make a living as a musician in poor areas or countries.

It doesn’t even have to be poor musicians without resources: I really like the band Fairport Convention, which is the band that gave Richard Thompson his start. They haven’t toured the U.S. in probably a decade because it’s become prohibitively expensive. They’ve been a professional band for over forty years, and they’re not just one of the most important bands in British electric folk rock, but they are sometimes credited with inventing the genre. They host Cropredy festival, which is the largest folk and rock festival in the U.K. In other words, a band of significant critical acclaim who has decades of success behind them can no longer afford to tour the U.S. for several reasons, the biggest of which is money.

There are world tours that never come to Baltimore, which is where I live, because it’s not a finanically viable gig. I’m talking about very big names. I’d have to drive to D.C. or sometimes Delaware if I had any interest in seeing them. If I lived in a less densely populated area, like in the midwest, it’s possible I’d need a plane ticket to get to the nearest concert venue that some artists would play.

It’s a big world. The burden is not just on the band’s financials, but also time (how many shows and venues can one fit into a schedule), travel and immigration laws (ever tried taking a guitar to the U.K.? have you ever looked into what it takes to play a gig in Canada? did you hear about the Gabriella y Rodrigo fiasco?), and a host of other reasons a band might never be able to play in your little corner of the world.

Nancy

What a great resource – thanks for the post! I recently got to watch one of my favorite producers from the UK (Simon Posford of Shpongle) work on producing/mixing a new song for an upcoming album through this kind of technology. Every once in a while he would stop to read all the comments, and would often verbally respond to what people were saying. A few times he even changed something he was doing to the music in response to fan comments, or asked for suggestions or opinions on parts of the music. As a longtime fan and budding producer, it was amazing to be a part of that experience!

grassrootsy

Wow, Chris. I wholeheartedly disagree with your comment in every way! Using a means like Stage-it is a great way to connect with people in cities you can’t tour through every week. Its also a way to keep fans engaged. Being a professional does not mean you have alot of money and I think it would be faulty thinking to assume that. Stage it does feature shows by young artists, amateur artists who are just looking to have fun, it musicians of all professional levels use it: EVeryone from Sara Barielles to Indigo Girls, to Jason Mraz: http://www.stageit.com/static/static_pages/our_artists

Stage it is a great door opener. Maybe you don’t want to see an artist playing songs in their living room, but then again, everyone is different…and apparently folks really like the idea otherwise Stage-it’s business model would have crashed by now. Of course you are entitled to your own opinion.

Chris, I also take it that you are a full-time touring artist and are hugely successful to have written your comment. So by all means congratulations to you.

I think Stage-It is a fun and awesome concept! Technology has changed the music biz tremendously, and this is a great & creative way to get with the times! I’d pay a reasonable amount to watch my favorite artist play in their living room.

American expat in Europe

You have completely missed the plot. Stay away from Stage it, you clearly have NO clue.

American expat in Europe

MANY MANY MANY professional musicians use Stage it and websites like it. Why? Numerous reasons, one of which it’s a way to bring a concert you are doing to someone who may not be able to make it otherwise. For example, I am abroad and am having a big concert here in Europe but my fans in America can’t just fly over. So what to do — oh right, let them join in via the internet. Amazing. You don’t know what you are talking about and should probably stick to watching MTV.

American expat in Europe

Well said. This Chris person is clearly missing the entire plot.

American expat in Europe

Hah, perfect.

RC

This could be really great for engaging audiences with accessibility issues.